Józef Kozłowski

Józef Kozłowski (Russian: О́сип Анто́нович Козло́вский, romanized: Osip Antonovich Kozlovsky, also Иосиф or Юзеф; 1757/1759 – 11 March [O.S. 27 February] 1831) was a Polish composer, active in Poland and Russia.

Biography

For the most part of his life Józef Kozłowski was attached to the Russian Imperial Court, for which he wrote most of his music. In Russia he became popular especially for his patriotic polonaises.

Sources vary as to Kozłowski's time and place of birth. The Polish academia traditionally considers him as a native of Warsaw, born on 10 September 1759. According to the Encyclopedia of Literature and Art of Belarus (1985), he was born in 1757 in Kozlovichi manor near Propoysk (modern Slawharad, Belarus). Author of encyclopedia entry V. D. Bobrovsky based his claim on the data from a metric book he found in Sokolovo, Slawharad District. An obituary in Northern Bee, presumably written by Thaddeus Bulgarin, described Kozłowski as a "descendant of Belarusian nobility."

Józef Kozłowski was a choir boy at St. John's Archcathedral, Warsaw. From 1775 he worked in Trakai at the palace of Tadeusz Franciszek Ogiński as a teacher of Michał Kleofas Ogiński (1765–1833) the statesman, rebel, and composer, known for his polonaise Pożegnanie Ojczyzny (Farewell to the Homeland).

He moved to Russia in 1786, where he became involved in the war against Turkey. He entered the army as aide-de-camp to Prince Dolgoruky. Soon he became known to Prince Grigory Potemkin, the prime minister (and accredited lover of Catherine II) between 1774 and 1776. Impressed by the musical talent of Kozłowski, Potemkin introduced him to the Court. While in Russia, he maintained contacts with the St Petersburg Polish community. He probably took part in the musical evenings held at the St Petersburg residences of King Stanisław August Poniatowski, who commissioned from Kozłowski the Missa pro defunctises-moll (1798), known as the Requiem.

In 1791 he wrote the music for the unofficial Russian national anthem of the late 18th and early 19th centuries Grom pobedy, razdavaysya! ("Let the thunder of victory rumble!"), text by Gavrila Derzhavin. The second part of this polonaise was later quoted by Peter Tchaikovsky in the final scene of his opera The Queen of Spades.

When the private theatre of Count Nikolai Sheremetev was transferred from Kuskovo to Ostankino, Kozłowski's opera (lyrical drama) Zelmira and Smelon, or the Capture of Izmail (Russian: Зельмира и Смелон, или Взятие Измаила) to a text by Pavel Potemkin, was premiered on 22 July 1795. The famous serf soprano Praskovya Zhemchugova acted the role of the captive Turkish woman Zelmira. The opera was revived and performed again on 28 August 2004 at the same place in Ostankino.

Between 1799 and 1819 Kozłowski supervised the theatre orchestras and the theatrical college at St Petersburg. Kozłowski composed a famous Requiem Mass in E flat minor Missa pro defunctis for the death of Stanisław August Poniatowski, the King of Poland (1732–1798), commissioned by the King himself before his death and performed on 25 February 1798 in St Petersburg. He wrote another requiem for the death of the Emperor Alexander I. His considerable production included stage music for Edip v Afinakh (Oedipus in Athens, 1804), Fingal (tragedy by V. Ozerov, 1805), Tsar Edip (Oedipus Rex) (1816), Esther (by Racine 1816), liturgical music including the Te Deum, cantatas, choruses, songs (including 28 Russian songs), about 70 polonaises and other dance music for the court balls, etc.

Quotations

• “Among the authors of the most popular Russian songs was a musician who didn’t have a single drop of Russian blood in him – Pole Józef Kozłowski. However, he did spend a major part of his life in Russia, and, judging by his musical endeavors, succeeded in fathoming its essence…” (1000 Years: Russian song)
• "Prince Grigory Potemkin celebrated the grant victory giving a ball in his palace in St Petersburg which opened with a polonaise dedicated to Alexander Suvorov. One of Suvorov’s musically endowed officers, Józef Kozłowski, was commissioned by Potemkin to write this musical dedication which he diligently did exactly on time." Music Tales: Military Music

Recordings

• Music at the Court of St Petersburg, Vol. 2, Composers: Bortnyansky, Teplov, Kozłowski, etc.; Performer: Iana Ivanilova; Label: Opus 111; Catalogue Number: OPS30179; Released: 7 April 1997; Audio CD DDD

The tracks include the following works by Józef Kozłowski:

• Almen nel ciel pietoso (If only in merciful heaven)
• Polonaise, Pastorale
• Polonaise on a theme by Noccolo Piccini
• Milaya vechor sidela (In the evening, seated beside the stream)
• Polonaise, Fantaisie No 01
• Placido zeffiretto (Gentle Breeze)
• I Long for You Constantly
• Please, Madam, polonaise (piano)
• I Want to Be a Little Bird (piano)
• Last Night My Darling was Sitting (piano)
• Ruby-Red Dawn is Already Glowing (piano)
• Where, o Where Can I Hide Myself (piano)

• Requiem in Latin and Salve Regina (Реквием для солистов, хора и оркестра) - Galina Simkina, Lidya Tchernykh, Valentina Panina, Konstantin Lisovsky, Vladimir Motorin, Moscow State Choir, USSR Ministry of Culture SO, cond. Vladimir Yesipov. Label: Melodiya, ADD, 1988.

Further reading

• Yandell, Nigel (2001). "Kozłowski, Józef". In Sadie, Stanley; Tyrrell, John (eds.). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Vol. 13 (2nd ed.). London: Macmillan. pp. 854–855.
• Lebedeva-Yemelina, Antonina (2015). "Осип Козловский – белорус?" [Was Osip Kozlovsky Belarusian?] (PDF). Старинная музыка (in Russian) (2–2015).

External links

• Nigel Yandell (2001). "Kozłowski, Józef". Grove Music Online (8th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
• Music match: Album
• Music match: Artist
• Poles in Music
• Russian song
• Free scores by Józef Kozłowski at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
• Scores by Józef Kozłowski in digital library Polona